Fred Wilson: Installations of the Hidden

Tonight I went to see the artist Fred Wilson give a lecture on his work at Boston University. I was happily surprised to discover that he is an engaging and funny public speaker and doesn't take his practice as seriously as some similar artists (ahem, Andrea Krasner). I had heard about Wilson in several of my classes, such as "Theory + Practice of the Museum", "Contemporary Art", and "Likeness, Identity + Culture" and was interested to see his current work and how he thought of himself in the history of art. Honestly, I really love going to see lectures by canonized artists to see if they've become complete pompous assholes or are still down to earth. Wilson's demeanor was pleasantly approachable and he acknowledged the many different perspectives and artisans that went into the creation of his installations.

Wilson is most well-known for his 1992 installation "Mining the Museum", which entailed rethinking the collection of the Maryland Historical Society. Wilson juxtaposed objects from the collection, some of which had been hidden for generations in "deep storage", to expose a slave narrative that is usually ignored by the museum's heavy focus on upper-class material culture.

In his lecture, Wilson asserted that he hopes to shift the notion that museums are objective spaces to reveal that each institution has a strong point of view. In addition, Wilson argues that museums focus on aesthetics not really the meanings that objects connote. Furthermore, throughout his work, Wilson plays on the preconceived notions that visitors bring to various kinds of museum displays. While I find Wilson to be an incredibly conceptual artist, interested in a symbolic gesture that evokes institutional critique + revisionist theory, I also believe that he is very aesthetically attuned. All of Wilson's pieces are beautifully balanced and symmetrical, even though his intention may seem obvious and simplistic.

Moreover, I was happy to find that Wilson's newer work has evolved to encompass the deconstruction of larger narratives, including the horror of war and the corruption of the contemporary oil trade. Overall, I am very happy I decided to drag myself over to Morse Auditorium instead of going home and napping.